Glad tidings for Cyrus

Fike senior named NCSCA 3-A all-state, shares top Big East honor with Mendoza

Fike senior Myles Cyrus was selected to the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A all-state team and was named the 3-A Big East Conference Offensive Co-Player of the Year along with teammate Kevin Mendoza.

Sheldon Vick | Special to the Times

Fike junior Kevin Mendoza was named 3-A Big East Conference Offensive Co-Player of the Year with teammate Myles Cyrus and earned a spot on the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A All-Region 3 squad.

For Fike High to do something it hadn’t in more than a decade in boys soccer, the Golden Demons needed top-shelf playing and coaching this season.

And they got it, particularly from senior forward Myles Cyrus, who was named to the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association all-state team Sunday. Cyrus, the seventh all-state selection in Fike boys soccer history, is the third under head coach Chris Mizelle.

That award followed the announcement earlier this month that Cyrus and teammate Kevin Mendoza were voted 3-A Big East Conference Offensive Co-Players of the Year. Both players were named to the NCSCA 3-A All-Region 3 squad, along with three Fike teammates.

“It was a bit of a surprise but definitely feel honored to get that,” said Cyrus, who joins Matt Cotton (2017) and Jamil Gracia (2014) as all-state picks under Mizelle, who earned the 3-A Region 3 Coach of the Year honor as well as the Big East Coach of the Year.

“Being in a class with those two guys alone is big and beyond me,” Cyrus said. “I was shocked and just let great to have made it.”

Cyrus led Fike and the Big East with 22 goals, to go with 14 assists, using his 5-foot-10.5, 180-pound frame as an advantage as the Demons’ sole striker.

“Physically, he’s certainly somebody that not every team has with the pace and size that he has,” Mizelle said. “He’s a tough matchup for anybody at any level.

“He does a good job at reading the game. He’s a great kid in the classrom and is a smart player as well.”

Cyrus, who is also a baseball standout for the Demons, worked hard in the offseason, Mizelle said. The work paid off as Fike won not only the Big East regular-season title and tournament championship as well, but also the Rotary Cup in August. The Demons, who were 12-0 against Big East competition, finished 17-3-1.

“He pushed himself. He comes and trains the way that he should every day,” Mizelle said. “On some days, when it wasn’t falling for him, he was still a threat and that’s sometimes something that’s difficult to come about in high school.”

Cyrus said he just did what was expected of him.

“I was just doing whatever I could to help the team,” he said. “I didn’t start the season trying to get awards. We had a goal in mind to accomplish and I knew that I was going to have to score some goals to help us do that.”

Mendoza, the Demons center midfielder who emerged as the perfect complement to Cyrus, had 17 goals and 19 assists.

“He knew what to do and we just combined a lot. He’s a good player,” Mendoza said of Cyrus. “He scored in almost every game and most of my assists were for him.”

Cyrus returned the praise, saying: “Playing with him is great. He’s a great player and a great teammate. He’s a threat with both of his feet and from all over the field.”

Mizelle described Mendoza as Fike’s “most technical player.”

“He’s just amazingly skilled with the ball,” the Fike head coach said. “It think what changed for him this year was his figuring out the game is the speed that it is and you can’t do it all on your own. He moves so well off the ball now.”

Mendoza and Cyrus led Fike to its first conference title since 2006, when the Demons shared the 3-A NEW 6 Conference crown with a Northern Nash team that had a sophomore defender named Chris Mizelle on the roster. Now Mizelle is thrilled to be part of Fike soccer history and hopes for more success.

“Obviously, it’s a pretty cool thing,” he said. “We had a great year but anytime you talk about coaching awards, it’s really a players’ award. ... We were lucky to have a group this year that did everything I asked them to do.”

Day, a junior for the runner-up Red Rams, was hailed as Defensive Player of the Year while freshman defender Oc Bolt of Fike, sophomore midfielder Carlos Chavez of Hunt and junior defender Rubinson Ochoa of Southern Nash were among those accorded honorable mention.